Lord Alton of Liverpool: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answer by Lord Huntof Kings Heath to Lord Patten on 29 March(WA 291), which research studies indicate that only a small minority of women experience long-term post-abortion distress; and what is meant by long-term.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: This issue is discussedon page 35 of the guideline The Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion issued by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (2004) and the research studies are listed on page 69. The research studies used a variety of methodologies and time periods. Copies of the guideline have been placed in the Library.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: This issue is discussed on page 35 of the guideline The Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion issued by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (2004) and the research studies are listed on page 69. The research studies used a variety of methodologies and time periods. Copies of the guideline have been placed in the Library.

Lord Drayson: Our response remains to keep the Taliban on the back foot through a series of operations which both degrade their capability and bring stability, extend the reach of the Afghan Government and allow reconstruction and development. Recent operations such as Operations Silver and Silicon have done just this.

Lord Drayson: MoD has funded the King's College London Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) to undertake major research into the health of those who have served on recent operations. Ongoing work includes multiple theatres, including Afghanistan. At a time when a growing number of personnel have been deployed to more than one operational theatre, it is becoming clear that it is difficult to attribute a subsequent mental health condition (which in many cases may not present itself until months or even years later) to service on a specific deployment.
	The new research mirrors that carried out by KCMHR on members of the British Armed Forces who served in the Iraq war in 2003, and which resulted in major pieces of work published in 2006, details of which can be found on the KCMHR website: www.kcl.ac.uk/kcmhr/information/publications.html. This research showed that there was no increase in psychiatric disorders seen in regular personnel deployed on the first phase of Operation TELIC compared to the rest of the UK Armed Forces and that the later Operation TELIC deployments examined were not associated with any worsening of mental health consequence compared to the initial Operation TELIC group.
	A new questionnaire to gather data on those who have served in Afghanistan has already been piloted and funding approved, and the data collection phase of the research will be commencing shortly. It should be noted that the result of this research will not be available for a period of years.
	A tri-service overarching review of operational stress management was carried out in 2004-05 which recognised the issues surrounding operational and combat stress. The Armed Forces have been tasked with adopting its recommendations as appropriate within their single-service provisions.

Baroness Amos: DfID supports the Government of Afghanistan in their plan to meet all of the millennium development goals (MDG) by 2020. This includes MDG 3, promoting gender equality and empowering women, andMDG 5, improving maternal health. DfID is working with the Government to ensure that gender is fully addressed and integrated into the Afghanistan national development strategy (ANDS), which will provide the framework for development over the next five years. We have seconded an adviser to the ANDS secretariat, who will work closely with UNIFEM and the Ministry of Women's Affairs to ensure that gender issues are addressed. Overall, we provide 80 per cent of our current assistance (estimated to be £107 million in 2007-08) directly to the Government of Afghanistan. This helps, for example, to pay salaries of staff in the Ministry of Public Health, as well as in other government departments, and in this way supports healthcare provision in Afghanistan, including family planning and maternal health. In addition we also support gender equality at provincial level and through NGOs.
	DfID has provided £17 million over the past three years (2003-06) to the Afghan Government's national solidarity programme (NSP). This programme has led to the creation of 16,000 community development councils (CDCs). Under this programme, DfID is pressing for more effort to be placed on improving women's participation in the councils. Female-only CDCs have already been established and have become fora for a discussion on issues that women couldnot previously discuss openly in mixed gender CDCs (eg on health, domestic violence and literacy).
	So far, DfID has also provided £20 million tothe Government of Afghanistan's micro-finance and investment support facility of Afghanistan (MISFA). This provides micro credit loans to more than 311,583 beneficiaries across 22 provinces, over 75 per cent are women. This supports women in developing sustainable livelihoods and therefore promotes economic independence. MISFA plans to expand to all 34 provinces by the end of 2007.
	DfID has also provided £4 million to support quick impact projects (QIPs) in Helmand. These are identified by the Afghan Government, and some benefit women directly. One particular example is the construction of new midwifery facilities in Lashkar Gar.
	DfID is also supporting a five-year women's empowerment programme from 2005-10, implemented by Womankind, through our Civil Society Challenge Fund. This £500,000 initiative is focused on promoting women's equal participation in governance; building awareness of women's rights among civil society and policy makers; and on providing educational, health, community and psycho-social support to those women affected by violence and conflict.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: Aviation security is governed by international law, as set out in the standards and recommended practices contained in Annex 17 to the Chicago Convention 1944 which is administered by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), of which the UK is a member. The overriding principle is that of host state responsibility, and the UK Government are responsible for the security of civil aviation leaving UK airports.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: The governance arrangements for the European Aviation Safety Agency are set out in EC Regulation 1592/2002.
	The regulation establishes a management boardfor the agency composed of one representative from each member state and one representative from the European Commission. The board has responsibility for appointing the executive director of EASA, on a proposal from the European Commission, and the directors on a proposal from the executive director.
	The management board can exercise disciplinary authority over the executive director and the directors. The board can dismiss the executive director on a proposal of the European Commission and dismiss the directors on the proposal of the executive director.

Lord Rooker: The figures quoted in the noble Lord's Answer of24 March 2004 (WA 104) were based on the 2001 economic evaluation of Defra's bee health programme. A recent re-examination of those figures suggests that the value of pollination of the commercial crops used to derive the earlier figure has dropped by some£20 million. This is due to a reduction in some of the crops used in the calculation, such as apples, cherries and runner beans. However, these figures do not take into account crops such as borage which rely on honey bee pollination. The value of pollination of wild plants by honey bees has not been calculated.

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they have assessed the possible causes of colony collapse disorder (CCD) among honey bees; whether they have estimated the economic and environmental cost of CCD occurring inthe United Kingdom; what research they are undertaking to improve their understanding of CCD; and what contingencies they have in place to reduce the possible impact of a collapse in the bee population.

Lord Rooker: Colony collapse disorder (CCD)is a generic name given to a number of majorcolony losses reported by no more than around60 commercial bee farmers spread across 25 states in the USA. Currently, the UK is not suffering from similar bee health-related problems on the same scale. Nevertheless, the National Bee Unit (NBU) at Defra's central science laboratory is maintaining close contact with researchers from the USA who are investigating possible causes. Although it is not possible to develop contingency plans for unknown threats, the NBU's activities are devoted to identifying new threats and mitigating the impact of known pests and diseases.
	A 2001 economic evaluation of Defra's bee health programme estimated the value of honey bees to commercial pollination at approximately £120 million, although changes in crop areas and values suggest that the value may now be lower. No valuation of the role of honey bees in relation to the pollination of wild plants is available.

Lord Truscott: We do not have the information regarding payments made as success fees, administration charges or union fees as the department is not party to any agreement between claimants and their representatives.

Lord Goldsmith: I can confirm that a copy of the judge's remarks at the end of the prosecution case and at the end of sentence in R v Payne and others (the Baha Musa case) are now in the Libraries of both Houses.
	With regard to the document entitled 1 QLR Internment procedure, dated 9 July 2003, that document is being placed in the Library by the Ministry of Defence in answer to Question HL 3559.

Lord Truscott: I understand that there are currently no NationalGrid announcements planned of further electricity interconnectors in the next 12 months. An interconnector is, however, contracted to open on 1 April 2010 between Great Britain and the Netherlands.

Lord Triesman: The five Council of Europe member states, other than the United Kingdom,that have not ratified Protocol 4 to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms are Andorra, Greece, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: At the March 2007 Transport Council, the presidency and Commission reported on the current difficulties with the current contract negotiations with the private sector concessionaire bidding to run the Galileo public/private partnership (PPP). The immediate cause of the breakdown in negotiations is disagreement about industrial work-share between the partners in the bidding consortium.
	As a result of the delays, the council gave the bidding consortium a deadline of 10 May 2007 to take the necessary measures to allow the resumption of effective negotiations. At the same time, the Commission was requested to prepare an analysis of the consortium's response and to develop alternative options for taking forward the Galileo project. A more detailed discussion on these issues will follow at the June Transport Council, where it is expected that EU member states will be asked to decide whether to continue with the current negotiations or bring them to an end and request the Commission to explore in detail alternative options for proceeding with the project.
	Galileo has been defined and agreed as a civil system since the project's inception. While Galileo's open service, like that of GPS, can be accessed by all and therefore could be used by military forces, Galileo remains a civil programme under civil control. This has repeatedly been confirmed by the EU Transport Council; most recently in its October 2006 council conclusions.

Lord Truscott: Medicines licensing is primarily the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), a Department of Health Agency. The agency's contact details are:
	Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency Market Towers1 Nine Elms LaneLondon SW8 5NQTel: 020 7084 2000 Fax: 020 7084 2353

Lord Truscott: The low carbon buildings programme supports only technologies which are certified under the Clear Skies certification scheme. No commercially available products for micro-renewable CHP or fuel cells have sought certification under the scheme to date.
	In terms of micro CHP, which is a technology with potential for the consumer market, we are awaiting the final conclusions of the Carbon Trust's field trials, which are yet to complete. We have made alternative arrangements to consider renewable/micro CHP for large scale projects under Stream 2B whereby an applicant must go through a due diligence process for an unaccredited system prior to a formal grant offer being made.

Baroness Amos: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) conference was successful in drawing international attention to the plight of displaced Iraqis inside Iraq and in the region and recognising the burden this places on host communities and countries. The main outcome of the conference was the Government of Iraq's commitment to take the lead in providing support and security for their citizens, including for those who have fled the country. The conference also agreed a new UN strategic framework for humanitarian action in Iraq, which will co-ordinate UN action in support of the Iraqi Government's efforts. Further assistance to support the displaced was also pledged by a number of international donors.
	Since January, the UK Government have provided £10 million to support emergency relief and other services to displaced and vulnerable Iraqis. This takes our total humanitarian assistance to more than£125 million since 2003. We will continue to work closely with the Iraqi Government and our international partners to ensure that needs are met.

Lord Triesman: We do not believe that academic boycotts of Israel help the Middle East peace process. It is more likely that they will disrupt the linksthat foster peace discussions, of which research collaboration is a good example. The last boycott was of short duration and is not thought to have had a significant impact.

Lord Triesman: Organised crime networks in Europe, as elsewhere in the world, have become global. South-eastern Europe and the western Balkans are far from immune, not least because of the region's strategic location on the traditional heroin trafficking route from central Asia to Europe, as well as the widespread economic deprivation throughout the region.
	Networks of organised crime traverse the Balkans. They have expanded from narcotics trafficking into human trafficking, human smuggling, counterfeit currency production, cigarette smuggling and trade in other illicit materials such as pirated CDs and DVDs. These problems are common to all the countries of the region.
	Kosovo's provisional institutions of self-government and police force, with the support of the international community, are working to combat organised crime. We are confident that these efforts will be maintained and intensified following implementation of a status settlement in Kosovo. Indeed, clarity over its status will help Kosovo develop the modern and robust police, immigration services, border controls and customs procedures it needs successfully to deal with these problems, as well as to start to make progress on long term economic development.

Lord Redesdale: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether, in view of Mr Dominic Cronin's e-petition having received the most number of signatures of any e-petition currently accepting signatures on the 10 Downing Street website, they will consider amending the Licensing Act 2003to enable less restrictive regulation of the performance of live music and dance.

Lord Rooker: The PSNI has advised that nopolice officers were injured during the incident on8 November 2006.
	One individual was arrested as a direct result of the incident and a second individual was arrested for obstructing police during follow-up inquiries.

Lord Alton of Liverpool: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they will make representations to the Government of Sudan about the suspension of52 local non-governmental organisations working in the southern area of Darfur; and about the denial of access to John Holmes, the United Nations humanitarian co-ordinator, to Kassab camp, north Darfur.

Lord Davies of Oldham: The 2007-13 European Social Fund (ESF) programme for England, administered jointly by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), aims to improve the employment prospects and skills of disadvantaged people in the labour market. It will help low-skilled people gain qualifications and skills needed by business, including those in the tourism and hospitality sectors. The devolved administrations are responsible for their own ESF programmes, which support broadly similar activities.
	Through the Sector Skills Development Agency, the DfES funds People 1st, the UK Sector Skills Council for the hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism industries, to improve skills and productivity levels. Core funding of £5.8 million has been given to People 1st over three years for UK-wide activity, with additional funds for specific projects. The devolved administrations also made funding available to People 1st last year. UK funds are also made available by a number of other agencies such as the Learning and Skills Council and the regional development agencies.
	As part of its research, People 1st estimates that approximately £600 million of public funding is invested in skills via all these agencies. The challenge is to ensure that this funding is directed to industry needs and priorities, which is the purpose of the Government's support for the industry-led national skills strategies and sector qualifications strategies.
	While the Department for Culture, Media and Sport does not directly fund skills and training for the tourism and hospitality industries, we recognise and value the importance of investment in skills and are working closely with People 1st to encourage public and private investment in sectoral priorities through better use of UK funds.